kanaka
noun
a Native Hawaiian.
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kanaka
American
[kuh-nak-uh, -nah-kuh, kan-uh-kuh]
/ kəˈnæk ə, -ˈnɑ kə, ˈkæn ə kə /
noun
(sometimes initial capital letter)
-
a Native Hawaiian.
-
a South Sea islander.
Kanaka
British
/ kəˈnækə, ˈkænəkə /
noun
-
(esp in Hawaii) a native Hawaiian
-
(often not capital) any native of the South Pacific islands, esp (formerly) one abducted to work in Australia
Etymology
Origin of kanaka
From Hawaiian: “person”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The kanaka of Hawaii, the Native Hawaiians who inhabit the islands, value ’ohana, which extends beyond the familial ties of blood.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2023
In the late 1960s and into the ’70s, Native Hawaiians, the kanaka maoli, led a revival of interest in Hawaii’s history, language, music, dance and other traditional arts.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2022
Over the following centuries, the Native Hawaiians, or kanaka maoli, developed a complex, regenerative and self-sufficient agricultural system in their new home, and the moa proliferated.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
It’s an unsustainable arrangement that has displaced many of our people: Half the global kanaka population now live outside Hawaiʻi.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
Ia la o lakou i hiki ai ma Waianae, kauoha ka Makaula i na kanaka e noho malaila a hoi mai oia mai ka huakai kaapuni ana.
From The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by Martha Warren Beckwith
Kanaka elders have insisted that no more telescopes be built on Mauna Kea, which Native Hawaiians consider to be ancestral and sacred.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
Patrick Michell, chief of the Kanaka Bar First Nation, first began noticing worrying changes in the forest near his reserve in British Columbia, Canada, more than three decades ago.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2021
At least one large fire, dubbed the Kanaka fire, grew to more than 10 acres before crews were able to stop its progress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2021
The hikes: Easy walks through a coastal rain forest, waterfalls and sandstone cliffs await visitors at this wilderness park along the Kanaka Creek, just five miles from downtown Maple Ridge.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 13, 2018
And here I begin to follow the version of Kauwealoha; it is a good specimen of Kanaka English; and the reader is to conceive it delivered with violent emphasis and speaking pantomime.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 18 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
